Chapter 28
"And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.” ― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
Rose's POV
I’d decided to give Diego the go-ahead for dinner tonight.
I wore a floor-length, dark-blue dress with a daring scoop in the back that exposed my entire back.
The luxurious silk felt like a second skin against my curves.
What would Aiden think when he saw me? Diego had taken out Josie’s pearls for me—a multi-strand necklace, six delicate strands, each one a little longer than the last. The shortest started at my collarbone, the rest draping gracefully over the swell of my breasts, the final one resting just above my rib cage.
Each pearl was separated by a tiny diamond, maybe a millimeter in size, catching the light in just the right way to reflect parts of my face I hadn’t seen illuminated before.
It was beautiful—elaborate—and probably worth more than anything I’d ever worn.
Josie really shouldn’t have trusted me with it.
I looked at myself in the mirror, pearls on, smokey eye makeup done by Diego.
My jaw looked sharper, my cheekbones a little higher.
Altogether, I looked older. More...mature.
I’d asked Diego to keep my hair down, remembering Aiden’s offhand comment this morning—he liked it better that way.
Still, instead of admiring myself, I bit my bottom lip, worrying over if I looked too big in this dress.
“Wow.”
I turned to the doorway and saw Aiden standing there, stunned. Did I look like the luna I was supposed to be? Or did my thick thighs and soft stomach turn this backless black dress from seduction to spectacle? Was I just a girl trying too hard to be wanted?
Diego gave me one last approving glance before moving to adjust the dress around me.
“Use that thigh high slit to show what your mama gave you Luna,” Diego declared flamboyantly before he slipped out of the hotel room.
I felt my cheeks heat. There were more pressing matters at hand than showing off legs.
“We…need to be more convincing,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.
That pulled Aiden out of whatever daze he’d been in.
His eyebrows furrowed. “Convincing?”
“This fake-dating isn’t working,” I said quietly. “We don’t touch each other like the other couples do. I don’t...smell like you,” I added, voice trailing off. It sounded pathetic out loud. I instantly regretted saying anything.
“Don’t talk about things you can’t handle, Rose,” he warned me sharply.
My anger rose. He talked like it would be too much for me to understand.
“I know what I’m talking about,” I insisted, cheeks flaming.
“How, exactly, do you think we could be more convincing?” he asked, voice hard as steel. He did not sound surprised at all over my revelation.
“You already knew this wasn’t working.” The realization hit me like a cold wave. My anger grew, hot and sharp. “When were you going to tell me?”
“They’ll think we’re still getting to know each other. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Not that big of a deal?” I echoed, disbelief lacing my voice.
“You think it’s not a big deal that people are wondering why we’re not physically intimate yet?
With the mate pull, we should at least be doing.
..something!” My voice rose, but I didn’t care.
He always did this—decided what I could or couldn’t know.
“You were never going to tell me any of this, were you?” I asked, my voice quieter now. “You weren’t going to tell me that—”
A loud thud cut me off. Aiden had punched the wall next to him. Hard. The tension crackled between us, his control slipping.
“And what would you have done if I’d told you?
” he ground out. “I already had my doubts when you insisted on coming with me. Dammit, I knew no one here would buy into the story that we were together. You wanted this. You wanted to come. So I let you.And I didn’t want to worry you.
It’s not like you can do anything about it except feel guilty and gnaw on your full lips. ”
His tone stung. Like a slap to the face.
Patronizing. Condescending. I wasn’t going to take that.
I walked up to him, heels clicking on the floor, determination stiffening my spine.
I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair—so soft, just like I’d imagined.
His whole body jolted like I’d shocked him.
He jerked back, startled. But I wasn’t done.
I kept my fingers in his hair, holding him there.
His hands stayed clenched at his sides, like he was using every ounce of willpower to stay still.
I took a breath, rose up on my tiptoes, and kissed the side of his neck.
Then I bit down softly, sucking at the pulse point I felt beneath my lips.
He gasped. His heart thundered against my ears—or maybe it was mine. I couldn’t tell. I was shaking, bracing myself for him to push me away in disgust. But he didn’t. He just stood there, completely still, while I left my mark on him. Why did this feel so good?
Finally I stepped back, hands on my hips. “Was that really so bad?” I asked, letting a sneer curve my lips.
Aiden looked completely wrecked—his breathing ragged, eyes dazed. A choked noise escaped his lips in reply to my question. I rolled my eyes, sighing.
You’d think he was the virgin, with how he flinched every time I touched him.
Aiden's POV
It was after dinner, and the couples had moved on to drinks and dancing.
I was standing against the far wall, chatting with one of the older alphas from my alliance.
He was still single, still waiting for his mate, and we talked like old friends over our drinks.
But then I felt it—Rose’s eyes on me. I turned, and there she was, her gaze steady.
She nodded toward the dance floor, where other alphas were slow dancing with their lunas.
I excused myself politely and walked over to her. Dancing wasn’t really my thing, but if Rose wanted to, I’d go along with it.
“You want to dance?” I asked, offering her my hand.
She took it, and for a second, I let myself notice how small her hand felt in mine, how right it felt.
When we reached the dance floor, I kept it friendly—arms around her waist, hands loosely resting at her back.
Nothing too close. But apparently that wasn’t enough for her.
She let her hands slide up my chest, her palms flat against me, searching, before settling behind my neck.
I stiffened. Her touch made my skin hum.
Then she started playing with the hair at the nape of my neck, and my mind started screaming at me to kiss her.
She bit her bottom lip again, and goddess it turned me on more than anything else ever had.
Then she rose on her toes, leaning in for a quick kiss. I panicked. If I let myself kiss her back, I’d lose control. So I turned my head at the last second, and she ended up kissing my chin. Still, a jolt of pleasure shot through me like lightning.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
“Relax,” she muttered, trying not to lose patience. “You could at least pretend.”
I gave a bitter laugh that didn’t even touch my eyes. Pretend? I didn’t need to pretend.
“I can’t,” I said.
“Try,” she urged. “Mr. Evans has been watching us all night, and we haven’t danced once. I know…I’m probably the least attractive person to you.”
I nearly groaned aloud. Any more attractive and I’d already have you pinned to the bed, I thought bitterly, horrified that I almost said it out loud. I had to get out of here.
“Stop…stop…I’m not doing this. We aren’t having this conversation.” I pulled my hands from her waist and started walking away, fast.
“Wait!” she called out behind me. I heard her even through the music. I turned, and she caught up.
“I know it’s hard to…to…do this with me,” she said, cheeks red. The sight nearly broke me. She looked like she thought I found her repulsive.
“If only you knew,” I muttered, rolling my eyes, fighting the urge to grab her right there.
Couldn’t she see what she did to me?
Her chest was heaving, her breath coming in soft pants, and all I could do was stare at her lips again. Would she let me bite that lip?
“But, well…we’ve got to make this look legit and…” she trailed off.
"What would you know, Rose, about lust and making our relationship look legit?" I threw the words at her, sharper than I meant.
"Just because I’m a virgin doesn’t mean I don’t know about...those urges,” she said softly. “You—we—need to touch each other more.” She was nervous, anxious, biting her lip again.
My control snapped.
In a flash, I closed the space between us, backing her up against the wall.
My hands moved possessively over her skin—from her bare shoulders down to her waist. She felt like fire beneath my palms. And I wanted to burn.
Rose yelped when I pulled at her waist, turning her to face the wall.
I hummed in satisfaction when my lips touched her spine, starting from the nape of her neck all the way down to the small of her back.
I let my tongue swirl over the base of her spine.
Delicious. My hands, of their own accord, went up to cup her full breasts.
I began to trail a path back up and heard her moan right as I bit into her right shoulder lightly. I wanted more.
“Aiden,” Rose gasped, and I felt her tremble against me.
Her voice brought me back to my senses. What the fuck was I doing?
Abruptly, I stepped back.
“I…I’m sorry,” I said, breathless. What the hell was wrong with me?
She didn’t deserve that—me losing it on her like that in a dark hallway.
She deserved better. My eyes went to the mark on her shoulder from where I’d bit down.
It was going to leave a mark. My wolf purred in satisfaction.
I felt like an absolute lecher for assaulting her.
Rose turned to me, confused. I kept talking, trying to explain.
“I…lost control. I didn’t…it wasn’t…” I couldn’t find the words. I should’ve asked. I shouldn’t have let it go that far. She must’ve been shocked.
But she wasn’t. She just looked at me with sympathy.
“It wasn’t supposed to go that far? Your wolf instinct took over?
” she asked gently. “It’s OK. Well…now I look convincing.
And smell like it too.” Her smile was shaky, and I hated how it didn’t reach her eyes.
“We should go back inside. People need to be able to smell you on me.”
I watched her swallow hard. That was the part that killed me—the idea she had that the only time I’d touch her was when I wasn’t fully myself. That Aiden, the man, didn’t want her. What a joke.
I cursed myself silently as we walked back.
When she’d said it was hard for me to touch her, she had no idea.
The hardest thing in the damn world was not touching her.
Especially with that back on display, smooth and exposed, just asking to be caressed.
And that lip—her constant biting was going to drive me insane.
I cursed myself again for losing control.
I’d made my choices. I had to live with them. I had promises to keep. No matter how natural this felt. No matter how right it felt.
I stopped mid-step. Rose looked at me, brows raised. We were halfway back to the dance floor.
Mine.
She wasn’t mine. Why did I keep thinking that?
“Everything alright?” she asked softly, her voice pulling me back from the edge.
“Yeah…” I breathed out, and forced my feet to keep moving.
That night, I didn’t sleep. I lay on the couch, wide awake, arousal still simmering under my skin. This…whatever it was between us—it was going to destroy me.
Rose's POV
I slept peacefully that night, my dreams filled with Aiden—dancing with me, kissing me, laughing like we didn’t have the weight of the world pressing down on us.
I couldn’t help it. Tonight was perfect.
He’d stayed on the dance floor with me for the rest of the evening, his arms low around my waist, his thumb brushing slow circles over my hip bone every now and then.
We laughed, we joked... for a little while, we actually felt like a couple.
The next day was a blur of work. Everyone split into groups to draft recommendations for a land conservation bill.
It was a long, exhausting day. I didn’t end up paired with Aiden but my group included Mrs. Evans, which was surprisingly nice.
She treated me with the same mutual respect most lunas offered one another.
By the end of it, I was certain I’d need a massage.
“And that concludes our three-day conference!” the hosting alpha boomed.
“Last, but not least, please forward your drafted recommendations to Aiden Sinclair who, as you all know, we voted to be our representative for the meeting in Washington, D.C. If anyone can get some of these put down on legislative paper, we know it’s got to be Aiden! ”
The room broke into applause, and suddenly, a spotlight landed on Aiden—right beside me.
I couldn’t help the awe that washed over me.
He was the one who would present everything we’d worked on.
He stood up, smiling and gracious, thanking everyone for believing in him before sitting back down as the spotlight returned to the host.
“Your rooms are still booked for tonight for those of you that might like to stay an extra night! Please do enjoy the rest of your stay here!” the host continued, but I wasn’t paying attention anymore.
I leaned toward Aiden and whispered, “That’s why they had the meeting scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday! You don’t have classes on Monday.”
He barely smiled. “Perceptive.”
I wanted to smack his chest. He had this huge responsibility, and he hadn’t told me a thing. Most guys would be bragging about it, but not Aiden. He kept quiet about his place in the alpha hierarchy like it wasn’t worth mentioning.